Light no longer shines through the slats in the window shutter as K?spar climbs over the gate and slips into the cobbled streets of Kesel’s-in-the-Vale.

  Iven sits against the wall of the stone bridge closest to the Valerun Inn. He glances up at K?spar, dried blood crusted beneath his nose and into his moustache.

  “They’re looking for you, Werner.” His voice is hoarse as he hauls himself upright, holding the wall for balance. “Aler’s got a nice price for information on you.”

  “Are you sure you want to discuss this drunk?” K?spar asks, raising an eyebrow.

  “I’ve sobered up enough to speak my mind to a worthless father.”

  K?spar walks across the bridge; his boots click softly against the stone. “You know half the story, Iven. Whoever is saying I am a worthless father or a man who abandons his children—is a liar. So let's be cordial, and I can tell you my side of the story as we walk. But first, how’s Velt doing, if you don’t mind me asking? His ninth birthday should have been recently.”

  “Shouldn’t you be asking about M?lys?” Iven catches next to K?spar, drunken wobble still present.

  “Who says I wasn’t going to?”

  Iven scrunches his nose. “From what I’ve heard, Velt is fine. Why don’t you go to S?gsetun and see for yourself?”

  “I left when Velt was barely a year old. He wouldn’t even know me; it’s been eight years.”

  “I doubt M?lys’s new husband would be pleased to see you either.”

  “Whom did Artke marry?” K?spar moves closer to Iven, who steps away, moving closer to the steep side of the river, drunken wobble still present.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Morvred Fyan—a lucky bastard.” Iven smirks; a leer forms on his visage. “What I’d give for a night with her.”

  K?spar’s lip curls in disgust; he quickly changes the subject. “Do you want to know why I left? Why, I abandoned such a life?”

  Iven’s eyes brighten; he fills with a drunken curiosity. “Tell me.”

  As the men enter the forest, the cobbled path and fence along the river fade, and moonlight cuts through the intercanopy gap of the trees above them, drawing ornate patterns on the dirt beneath.

  “How would you feel, Iven, if you found out that your gorgeous wife was unfaithful? Do you know where I was in the first maiden of 1054?”

  “Well, no.” Iven mutters, picking blood from his mustache.

  “I was in Brachb?sc from the 11th Maiden of 1053 until the 6th Maiden of 1054, and I came back to find my wife pregnant. She never apologized—never even tried; she just kept telling me, blaming me for how I was gone for too long, that it's my fault for leaving, not hers for being enthralled by a foreign sailor.” He draws a long, sharp breath through his nose, teeth gritting. “Would you be able to sleep next to her, Iven? after that? could you?” He moves closer to Iven again. “Have you met Velt?”

  “No, I... I haven’t.” His original aggressive tone fades, being replaced with pity. Iven steps away again and starts fidgeting with the coin purse in the pocket of his jacket uncomfortably; the clinking is audible to K?spar in the quiet night.

  “Well, if you ever see Velt, take a good look at him and tell me if that child resembles me.”

  “I have a meeting with ?ld’?gel when I’m back in S?gsetun. I won’t tell him I saw you; I’ll tell Enni and Alleck your story, and I don’t think they will say anything—” Iven loses his footing on the riverside, reaching out as he teeters on the edge.

  K?spar grabs the man's arm.

  Relief quickly fills Iven's face.

  K?spar pulls the coin purse from the man's pocket, throwing it into the bushes behind him; he releases his grip.

  The ephemeral relief fades quickly as shock replaces it, and panic replaces shock, not due to being dropped, but because of the sheer malice in K?spar’s act of spiteful theft.

  K?spar watches as the man’s head hits sharply against a large river rock; blood quickly mixes itself with the immediate water before dispersing into the current as it carries his limp body downstream—the night stays silent.

  K?spar heads back to the Valerun Inn and climbs back into his room. Checking the door, the paper is still there. He goes to bed, sleeping better than he has in weeks.

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